26 THE CORÂN.
lives were spared at the prayer of their ally, Abdallah ibn Obey, but they were driven into exile. About a year and a half after, Mahomet found occasion to pick a quarrel with the Bani Nadhîr, another of the Jewish tribes, inhabiting a well-fortified suburb surrounded by rich date-groves. After a siege of three weeks Mahomet accepted their offer to surrender lands and gardens to him, and leave the country. The LIX. Sura is devoted to the subject. The Prophet is there justified in having broken the laws of Arab warfare in cutting down and burning the date-trees, and the disaffected party are taunted with their inability to assist their Jewish confederates.

In the fourth year of the Hegira there was no actual fighting.

A.H. 4.

The leaders of the two armies at Ohod had appointed a hostile meeting to take place at the fair of Bedr the following year. Both marched forth. But the Coreish, harassed by drought, halted on the way and returned; while the Moslems encamped eight days on the appointed spot, buying and selling at the fair. In the III. Sura the Divine satisfaction is signified at the result.

In the fifth year, during an expedition against the Bani Mustalick,

A.H. 5.

a disloyal tribe, an altercation arose between the men of Medina and the refugees from Mecca. High words led to blows, and Abdallah ibn Obey began to taunt his people with having brought upon themselves this influx of insolent strangers. "When we return to Medina," he said, "the mightier shall surely expel the meaner." Mahomet, alarmed at the bold expression of so dangerous a sentiment, gave orders for a
EXPLAINED BY THE LIFE OF MAHOMET 27
long and immediate march. Soon after, the LXIII. Sura was revealed, with a bitter reprimand against Abdallah and his disaffected followers.

This year is remarkable for certain scandals connected with the domestic life of Mahomet. He had now five wives, two of whom had been but recently added to his harem. Nevertheless, he was smitten by the charms of Zeinab, wife of his adopted son Zeid, who, seeing this, divorced her, that she might be married to his friend. Mahomet hesitated to take to wife one who, according to Arab custom, was of prohibited affinity. But the passion was irrepressible; and at last a revelation was produced which chided his fear of man;

Sura XXXIII.

ruled that adoption made no virtual affinity; and, "that there might be no offence chargeable to believers in marrying the wives of their adopted sons," joined the Prophet in marriage to Zeinab.

A few months later another delicate affair, but of a different complexion, occurred. On his various expeditions, Mahomet was accompanied by one or more of his wives. At the last stage, returning from the campaign against the Mustalick tribe, Ayesha's tent and litter were by inadvertence carried away while she was for the moment absent, and on her return she found herself in the dark all alone. Expecting the mistake to be discovered, she sat down to await the issue, when, after some delay, one of the followers came up and, finding her in this plight, bade her mount his camel, and so conducted her to Medina. The citizens drew sinister conclusions from the circumstance. Mahomet himself became estranged from Ayesha,